Olympiakos 2015/16 The Forgotten Season

Olympiakos 2015/16 The Forgotten Season

By Stephen Kountourou

For many football fans, there is always a defining season that people remember most fondly above all else. I don't even have to be a vintage campaign which is the crowning glory that defines the sides success for the rest of time, just one that sticks out as one you particularly enjoyed. This is very much the case with me and the team that I support Olympiakos. What a shock. 

Fans of Thrylos, when thinking about their favourite seasons supporting the current Greek champions, may hark back to such fond memories of the team that reached the champions league quarter finals in 98/99 The 13/14 side that dominated the league, and defeated Manchester United 2-0 in front of the sea of fans in Piraeus. Last season's side which won their first double in five years, famously knocked Arsenal out of the Europa League Round of 32 and normally missed out on going a full domestic campaign undefeated. Despite all of these campaigns being very memorable for me as a support and stand among the greatest in the clubs more recent history, they are not my favourite seasons supporting Olympiakos. 

 

In my humble and sometimes questionable opinion the season that I always think of when discussing a favourite that I have seen thus far is the 2015/16 campaign. Not only was it doing the prestigious 90th Anniversary of the club, but it gave me some of the fondest memories supporting Olympiakos. 

Yes we did not win the double under very controversial circumstances. Yes a couple of games were cancelled and we were given 3-0 victories and three points due to fan violence. Yes we did not have a vintage campaign in Europe. But even with these events I still find myself looking back most fondly on this particular season. Why? Well that is exactly what this week's blog is all about, as we take a trip down memory lane and take a look at why Olympiakos 2015/16 is my favourite of all while supporting this historical club. 

The squad

At first glance the squad for that season while solid was nothing spectacular. Roberto in goal, while a good shot stopper for the most part, was capable of one or two lapses in concentration in big moments. This was also the same summer transfer window in 2015 where Olympiakos notoriously signed defender Manuel Da Costa, with many regarding him to be one of the worst signings in the clubs history. Thankfully he was partnered by the much more reliable Dimitris Siovas next to him as well as the then decent Alberto Botia who scored a cloud of decent goals that season and had not quite decided for his form to drop off a cliff just yet. 

 

On either side of the defence at fullback, was Arthur Masuaku a fairly underrated player for us during his time in Piraeus, never the greatest defensively but was key to us going forward and for our style of play of free flowing attacking football. On the other side was a prime Omar Elabdellaoui who was also in competition for the right back spot with another fairly underrated player in the form of Leondro Salino. .This would be the Brazilians final campaign at the club. Waiting in the wings, but way before his time, was a young left back who made his debut that season whose name was Kostas Tsimikas, not sure if he went on to anything bigger but I could be wrong. 

 

The midfield was particularly fun to watch that season with the defensive Luka Milivojevic manning holding midfield and really coming into his own. On the other side there tended to be a either one of, inconsistent but talented Swiss midfielder Pajtim Kasami, and that summers marquee signing Esteban Cambiasso who left Leicester City, despite their historic title win the very same season, because he clearly knew where the real titles are won, in Piraeus with us. The Argentine rolled back the years with us and brought some great experience to the squad in all competitions and was a joy to watch whenever he played.

 

The star of the season however, was at attacking midfield and this was the breakout year for one, Kostas Fortounis. After being in and out of the squad for the last couple of years he finally made attacking midfield his own, despite competition with the very capable Chori Dominguez, and was the beating heart of everything going forward topping both the goal scoring and assist charts that season. This would also be the final season for legendary midfielder David Fuster at the club. Even in a season in which he made fewer appearances, still had a decent tally of seven goals in sixteen games.  

 

On both wings there tended to be the pair of Jimmy Durmaz, who is of a mixed opinion in many Olympiakos fan circles but still showed his quality over the course of the campaign, and Felipe Pardo. The Columbian winger was not as productive as the previous season but he still was active throughout and at times looked very threatening and other times...he was not. Seba also flitted in and out of the team throughout, much like his counterparts he had his moments but was also inconsistent. Even Hernani saw sporadic game time as back up to Pardo, scoring as many goals as his teammate in less minutes played. 

 

Up front was not stellar either but did their job quite well. The big striker signing in the summer of 2015 was Nigerian forward Brown Ideye who performed admirably if not inconsistently. Alfreð Finnbogason, the Icelandic international who came to us on loan from Real Sociedad that season, scored a couple of important goals for us that I will get into later. The last significant forward at the club was Mexican Forward Alan Pulido who did not play much but did score five goals in eight games so did make a contribution to us. retaining the title that season.   

It is also worth noting that, at the time of writing, there are only two players from the 2015/16 season still at Olympiakos, that being Kostas Fortounis and Andreas Bouchalakis.

 

Lastly I will briefly touch on the manager of that season, Marco Silva. He only had that sole stint in Piraeus with Olympiakos, but I always wished he had not left after this campaign. He brought a very entertaining style of football to the club and gave us some fantastic memories both domestically and on the European stage which I will eventually touch on. 

Domestic Domination...Almost

To put it quite frankly, Thrylos domestic campaign was imperious. Olympiakos ended the 15/16 season with 85 points from 30 matches with a gap between them and 2nd place Panathinaikos being a monumental 30 points. They only dropped five points all season, won 28 draws once and lost once. Every game I watched I never believed for a moment that the Ethryolefki would not win, such was their dominance over almost every team. 2015/16 also holds the club record for the longest sequence of wins in a row at 17, before that run was finally ended by Panetolikos on game week 17. 

Thrylos scored for fun during this season also, with 86 in 30 games at an average of 2.86 goals per game! At the other end conceding was not a problem either, as Olympiakos only let in only 16 goals over the entire campaign at an average of 0.5 goals allowed per game. This defensive record was particularly impressive at home, only conceding 5 goals in Piraeus. The champions only failed to score on one occasion, which also happened to be their only loss in the league to AEK Athens away from home. Speaking of their home record, the Karaiskakis was a fortress at season as the side finished on a 100% win rate dropping no points.    

 

The Greek Cup Controversy 

One of Olympiakos' few blemishes during this season was definitely our road to the final of the Greek Cup. For the most part our cup run was reasonably comfortable all the way up to the semi finals against PAOK. Despite being on the verge of the match ending 1-2 to Olympiakos in Thessaloniki, PAOK fans were enraged, after a penalty decision was waved away by the referee. In response to this flares were lit and supporters invaded the pitch to clash with riot police. The match was abandoned, despite being close to completion, and it was eventually decided that the 2nd leg would not be played and Olympiakos would be awarded a 3-0 win for both semi final legs and entered the final to play AEK. 

 

The final itself was rife with controversy. Olympiakos, having already won the Greek Super League title, had to wait nearly two months to play the Cup final without a competitive fixture to play in that time, other than a friendly against Red Star Belgrade. AEK on the other hand were in the midst of competing in the old format of the Super League playoffs to decide who would qualify for the Champions League and Europa League qualifiers so they had plenty of time to prepare and were match fit by the time the Cup final came around. While this was not the deciding factor of the Cup final result it did play a part in it and Olympiakos were denied a domestic double by losing to AEK 2-1 in the Olympic Stadium.    

European Exploits and What Could Have Been

While I do believe that this was by no means the worst European campaign by Olympiakos, this was a tad disappointing from a supporters perspective. You felt as though, with the squad we had, the manager and the way in which we played, more possibly could have been achieved. This would also mark the last time a Greek side could automatically qualify for the UEFA Champions League Group stage, with teams having to progress through the qualifiers ever since. Thrylos was drawn with Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb. This group, while a tough one was realistic to think that at the very least, this Olympiakos side could comfortably finish 3rd, with 2nd a possibility. 

The campaign began with Thrylos hosting Bayern in Piraeus, which was the most attended game that season for the Greek champions. Unsurprisingly the Bavarians dominated and won 0-3 in Greece. 

 

The next game holds a special place in my memory as Thrylos travelled to the UK to play Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. I was able to get ticks to see my team play live for the first time ever and I was so excited, even though I had to sit with the gunners rather than the Gate 7 faithful. The atmosphere in the ground was electric with 5000 Olympiakos supporters out singing the Arsenal fans it felt more like a home game and boy did I pick the right game to see Thrylos play. Olympiakos ran out 2-3 winners in North London that night, thanks to goals from Pardo and Finnbogason and a tragic own goal from Gunners goalkeeper David Ospina. The first away win for Olympiakos in England ever and one of my favourite footballing memories.

 

After a double header against Dinamo Zagreb, where Olympiakos won 0-1 away and 2-1 at home, there was hope that Thrylos could potentially reach the round of 16. Despite a 4-0 drubbing against Bayern away, there was hope that if Olympiakos could rematch Arsenal and win in Piraeus we could seal 2nd place. Then Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud, had other ideas as his hat trick was enough for Arsene Wenger's side to beat us 0-3 at home in Piraeus and cruelly send Arsenal through on head to head even though both sides finished on 9 points. Olympiakos, after having aspirations of Champions League knockout stages, had to settle for the Europa League. 

 

This is where I felt we should have done much more in Europe that season. After drawing Anderlect in the Europa League Round of 32, there was hope that after the performances seen against Arsenal away and Dinamo Zagreb ,that Olympiakos could comfortably reach the next stage of the competition. 

Like we have seen before however, the side bottled it over two legs, losing 1-0 away in Brussels, going to extra time after scoring at home, only to concede twice and end the tie 1-3 on aggregate. Our European adventure was over, and far too soon in my opinion.  

  

Reflection and Final Thoughts 

Upon looking back on a season I recall fondly, it was nice to reflect on the highs of the seeing Olympiakos play some of the best football I can remember before 2019/20, and even the lows on what could have been, with a team that had a lot of potential outside of the domestic league that was not fulfilled on the European stage. The kits were also some of my favourite ever with a clean red and white stripe of the home jersey and the Adidas logo in the middle. Even the away kit is one I really love, at deep blue with the red trim, not a combo you would normally associate with Olympiakos. So to just rap up, this may not be seen as a vintage season by many, or remembered as having the best team on paper but to me and in my time supporting one of the biggest clubs in Greece it will always be that way for me as it helped me become the supporter I am today.

Hellas Football 

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